Empire Reborn (Taran Empire Saga Book 1): A Cadicle Space Opera A.K. DuBoff (guided reading books TXT) 📖

She laughed. “I’ll keep doing what I’m doing until I hear otherwise. Tell Command I’m their girl to get shite done.”

“Stay safe.”

“In the meantime, good luck with your alien invasion thing.”

“We’re calling it a ‘compulsory cultural exchange’.”

She tilted her head and her nose wrinkled. “Seriously?”

He chuckled. “No. Or not yet, anyway. We’ll see how the media spins it.”

“This is going to be a wild ride.”

—     —     —

Echoes of the Erebus’ presence kept catching Raena off-guard. Since the contact, she hadn’t broken completely free from it—or that’s what it felt like. More likely, it was so profound that it had changed her, in the way a person held onto any great joy or trauma.

She tried to focus on the meeting with her father and Ryan about the rollout of the new power system. With MPS still not being forthcoming in their communications, they’d decided that the best test case for the power cores would be in a new line of ships through DGE. The plan was to test them out with non-sentient AI operators to make sure they were safe and reliable before getting any people involved.

“We’ll get on it as soon as possible,” Ryan agreed as they wrapped up the discussion of the logistical details for the prototype manufacturing.

“Thank you again for stepping in,” Wil said. “I’ll feel a lot better about rolling out this tech on a larger scale once I know it’s been vetted.”

“Where does this leave MPS and Monsari?” Raena asked.

He shrugged. “Remains to be seen. It may be difficult to hold onto their seat on the High Council if the corporation becomes irrelevant. Once the tech is vetted, we can approach them about scaling the manufacturing of this new power core.”

“I’d be freaking out if I were them,” Ryan said.

“I’m sure they are.” Raena knew they would have to keep a close eye on the Monsari Dynasty. They were rich and powerful, but those resources would dry up if they were no longer able to produce. Desperate people would do anything to survive.

Ryan spread his hands on the table. “At least things have calmed down around Duronis. The arrival of the Erebus has proved to be a wonderful distraction.”

Raena cracked a smile. “Reminding people how they aren’t so different as soon as aliens are involved—not all that dissimilar from the argument we made about Earth.”

“There will be a lot more distraction and disruption to come, I’m sure,” Wil said.

“I’ll take the breather for now. These last couple of weeks…” Ryan released a long breath as he leaned back in his chair, shaking his head.

“Enjoy the respite. It’s well-earned.”

“Don’t worry, we know it’s temporary. We’re at the center of this thing, whether we like it or not,” Raena said.

Her father gave her a compassionate nod. “I know it was difficult, but it’s good you were there to see the Erebus for yourself. I wouldn’t wish that danger on anyone, especially you, but it’s for the best that someone on the political side talked to them directly.”

She knew the meaning behind the words. Someone needed to see that acquiescing was the only option. We can’t fight them, so we need to do whatever they tell us if we want to live. She’d use much more elegant phrasing when communicating that point to others, but that was the heart of it. It wouldn’t be long before she’d need to sell the message, so she realized that finding the right words was a task best undertaken sooner than later.

“Grandpa and Grandma understand,” she said.

“Yes, but not like you. It may sometimes be difficult to make your voice heard, but you must be insistent. What they are giving us looks like a gift, but they must have other motives.”

Ryan nodded. “I’ll do what I can to keep things in perspective on the High Council.”

“And I’m working to foster a collaborative relationship with the Guard. We still need to come up with the right branding for it, though,” Wil said. “It’s critical we present a unified front.”

“That’s it!” Raena exclaimed.

“Hmm?”

“A little on the nose, but it works. The Taran Unified Front. No, Force. Taran United Force.”

Wil smiled. “It’s simple, but I love it.”

Raena grinned. “And it abbreviates to TUF. It’s perfect! ‘Taran tough’.”

“Putting it like that means you’re saying Taran twice,” Ryan pointed out.

“Shh, don’t over-think it.” She patted his arm.

“Thank you, Raena. I’ll work with the Guard’s public relations team to craft the messaging.”

“I can give a heads up to the High Council, if you’d like,” Ryan offered.

“That would be wonderful. Thank you both.”

“Try to get a break yourself, Dad. Maybe you and Mom can come visit with Jason soon. No work.”

He smiled. “I’ll see what we can do. In the meantime, take care of each other. None of the problems have gone away—just pushed to the background.”

Raena took her husband’s hand. “Don’t worry about us. No matter what comes, we’ll face it together.”

—     —     —

Jason couldn’t help looking at the stars differently during the flight lesson with his students. The Erebus are out there. What made them go from wanting to destroy us to giving us such a valuable gift?

He didn’t trust them. He knew his parents didn’t, either, but they were backed into a corner and everyone knew it. The Erebus knew it.

They could have given us anything and we would’ve had to agree. It has to be a setup. But for what?

They’d run the power core through every conceivable test, and it had passed. Safety. Reliability. Power output. The answer to all of their hopes and dreams about what could take the civilization to the next level. Yet, something was wrong. He could feel it. The darkness on the horizon was no longer in the distance. It was surrounding them.

 He